The Ballad of JFK

Bruce Watson MySpace

This track was played at Bruce Watson’s MySpace page http://www.myspace.com /brucewwatson beginning April 2008 (4:51)

Music & Lyrics: Alex Harvey & Jimmie Grimes (originally called ‘The Ballad of Lee Harvey Oswald’)
Original Artist: Alex Harvey (w/ Jimmie Grimes)

The Earth’s been shoved since time began
By murder, cruel and foul
A week ago I heard the news
That spread throughout the world

Another man has met his death
On a summer’s day
A rifle cracked and took the life
Of John F. Kennedy

The southern segregation man
The Birch, the Ku Klux Klan
Who hide behind their hoods and masks
Have claimed another man

And with their power and their influence
Backed ’em with all their gold
They placed the blame on one young man
Called Lee Harvey Oswald

Oswald in jail for murder
Of a man he did not kill
Like Sacco and Vanzetti
And the union man, Joe Hill

Two anarchists and one communist
And guilty they were not
The anarchists both got the chair
And poor Joe Hill was shot

Today I heard it from a friend
The truth we’ll never know
Lee Oswald, he’s been shot in jail
To death he’s bleeding slow

Murdered in a prison cell
All bound by linking chains
Jack Ruby fired the fatal shot
He was allowed to aim

Could not the tough south state police
Protect an untried man
And get him safely into court
His trial for his stand

Or did they fear the truth might shine
And set young Oswald free
The truth of who did fire those shots
That killed John Kennedy

Now Ruby, he’s in the Dallas jail
They say he’ll get the chair
If they hang, shoot or garrot him
I really could not care

He killed an untried chain bound man
Who had not had his say
And now the world will never
Who killed John Kennedy